<hi rend="italic">De Amico ad Amicam </hi>and its <hi rend="italic">Responcio</hi>: a digital edition Taylor edition Edited with a translation by Rebecca Henderson. 3 pages of manuscript, beginning line 11 of folio 10v and finishing on 11v. Taylor Institution Library, one of the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford, 2018. XML files are available for download under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . Images are available for download under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License . 19 Taylor Editions JPEG

Transcribed from: Cambridge University Library Gg.4.27 (part 1a) ff. 10v-11v. Images scanned from Cambridge University Library Gg.4.27 (part 1a) ff. 10v-11v

This is a facsimile and transcription of De Amico ad Amicam. It is held by Cambridge Univeristy Library (shelf mark: Gg.4.27).

The transcription and translation were encoded in TEI P5 XML by Rebecca Henderson.

Cambridge University Library MS. Gg.4.27

This manuscript contains 19 texts, including De Amico ad Amicum Hi A, B, C or La Prier de nostre Dame (fol. 5r) Litera directa de Icogon, per G.C (fol.7v) A short ‘Balad de bone conseyl’ is added (fol. 8v) No title, beginning In May when every herte is lyʒt De Amico ad Amicum (fol. 10v) Responcio (fol. 11r), beginning A soun treschere et special The five Bookes of Troilus and Cresseid (fol.14r) The Canterbury Tales (fol.123r), breaks off at fol.375v in the ‘Parson’s Prologue’ After a gap, the remained of the ‘Parson’s Prologue’ (fol.376r-412v) The Prologue of the Legend of Good Women (fol. 413r) The Legend of Cleopatra (fol. 420r) The Legend of Tisbe of Babylon (fol. 422r) The Legend of Dido, queene of Carthage (fol. 424r) The Legend of Hipsiphile and Medea (fol. 430v) The Legend of Lucrece of Rome (fol. 434v) The Legend of Philomene (fol. 441r) The Legend of Hypermestre (fol. 445v) The Parliament of Fowls (fol. 448r) The Temple of Glass (fol.458r) Supplicatio Amantis (fol. 467), begins Redresse of sorweful O Cytherea The following pieces are then inserted in a different hand: A portion of the Romance of Florice and Blauncheflour, beginning abruptly Heo tok forþ a wel fair þing Horn, begins Alle beon he bliþe Asumpcion de nostre Dame, begins Merie tale telle ihe þis day

Parchment: written in two hands: 203 x 105mm, i + 14 leaves, in single column. There are illuminated borders using gold, red, blue, and brown paint; there are a number of red and blue initials and flourishes scattered through out the book.

Written in England in the 15th cent. The original fifteenth-century portion contained 517 leaves, with 63 now missing. All seem to have been removed intentionally with a knife (perhaps not all at the same time), and knife marks appear on the following leaf. In almost every case the missing leaf occurs where we would expect to find illuminated borders and/or miniatures (there is decoration left behind on the stubs); in some instances, the removed leaves have been stitched back in.

De Amico ad Amicam. Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS. Gg.4.27, fols. 10v-11v. with an English translation by Rebecca Henderson.

Created by encoding transcription from manuscript.

Folios have been indicated as this corresponds to the labelling of pages in the manuscript (as can be seen in the top right hand corner of f.11r); this is also consistent with descriptions of the manuscript in catalogue entries and other scholarship. The other folios contain around 38 lines of writing in a single column aligned to the left of the page; lineation for transcription and translation is complicated by the mise-en-page here. At first glance, the poem appears to be written in rhyming couplets, with the first line in French, the second in English (bar the final couplet of De Amico ad Amicam, where the English comes first). Beside each couplet, almost interlineally, is a single Latin word: the scribe has shown the connections through a kind of bracket connecting rhyming words. As the scribe has visually drawn attention to patterns of rhyme, this is reflected in the transcription by the addition of breaks to divide the poems into stanzas of six lines. The Latin, placed after each rhyming couplet, is indented to show its spatial separation in the manuscript.

General principles of transcription: All punctuation is editorial and is intended only due to facilitate reading due to the challenging syntax and sentence structure All abbreviations have been expanded; expansions are italicised and follow the orthography of the scribe Both r and s have only one form despite variation in the manuscript & is used to represent the tironian nota. It is expanded to "et" in Latin and Anglo-Norman, and to "and" in Middle English Rejected readings and linguistic points of interest appear in footnotes Insertions have been indicated by square brackets Scribal use of u/v and i/j has been retained. é has been used to indicate a tonic e Word division has been retained

fre 2018-07-10
De Amico ad Amicam A celuy q̅ que pluys eyme en moūde mounde Of alle þo þt þat I haue foūde founde Carissima Saluz Salutz od treyé

In my translation, I choose to reject Spitzer’s usually accepted recommendation to see the od as having the d as an inverse spelling for t, and his rather convoluted logic based on that, given od is actually a standard Anglo-Norman form of the preposition. Instead, treyé is taken here to be an unusual spelling of the Middle English treue, one which is close to the Old English equivalent trywe. Given the scribe uses schent, another Middle English word that directly derives from Old English, this seems plausible. Spitzer, Leo. ‘Emendations Proposed to De Amico ad Amicam and Responcio.’ Modern Language Notes 63.7 (1952), pp.150-55 (pp.150-151; treue (adj), sense 1a: ‘faithful in romantic or marital relations;—sometimes used of the heart; also, sincerely in love’, and 1c: ‘in address’, MED Online, (accessed 15 June 2018).

 amor amour Wt With grace & and ioye & and alle honor honour Dulcissima Sachez bien, pleysant & et beele, Þt Þat I am ryȝt in goode heele Laus xp̅o Christo Et moū moun amor amour done doné vos vous ay And also þyn owene, nyȝt > & and day, In cisto

I follow Spitzer’s recommendation here of seeing these two words as one, incisto, the first person present active indicative form of *incistare ‘to enshrine’, “a nonce word the author may well have coined” (Spitzer, p.154).

 Ma tresduce & et tresame tresamé Nyȝt & and day for loue of þe Suspiro Soyez pmanent permanent & et leal Loue me so þt þat I it fel Requiro Jeo suy pr pur toy dolant & et tryst Thu me peynyst boþe day & and ; nyȝt Amore Mortes hattȝ

In the manuscript, it can be seen that hatt was the original form, with the yogh written later (seemingly by the same hand) over the top of the flourish on the final -t, to form hattȝ. From this, I conclude two things. Firstly, the lines originally read Amore / Mortes hatt[es] tost sun espeye, with hattes from the Anglo-Norman hatier ‘to challenge’ i.e. ‘Love’s Sword readily challenges Death’. This is later corrected to Amorte / Mortes hattȝ tost sun espeye, with hattȝ from the Middle English hatiȝen ‘to feel hatred for’ i.e. ‘Love’s Sword always hates Death’

 tost sū sun espey Loue me wel er I deye Dolore Saches Sachés pr pur verite verité Ȝif I deye I clepe to þe Causantem Et pr pur ceo jeo vos vous creser vos vous pur creser

In both transcription and translation, I follow Spitzer’s suggestion of adding pry to this line; he suggests this based on the supposition of an Anglo-Norman form *trescere (ModFr très-chère; cf. R line 1, treschere) and on the necessity of adding pry to line 8, jeo [pry] vous sans debat, in the Responcio in order for it to make sense (Spitzer, p.153). Spitzer’s argument becomes all the more convincing given the constunction jeo vous elsewhere in the two poems is only ever followed by pry (DA line 64, pur ceo jeo vous pry, line 67, jeo vous pry pur charité; R line 52, cesteȝ maundés jeo vous pry).

Loue me wel wt with outȳ outyn daunger Amantem Et de vos vous enpense tut dyȝ

Dyȝ is interpreted here the Anglo-Norman dis ‘days’. After the deaffrication of z = /ts/, s and z are entirely interchangeable (cf. e.g. AND, s.v. tuzdis). Ian Short, Manual of Anglo-Norman, 2nd edition (Oxford: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 2013), pp.113-14.

 Of al þe world þu berist þis Decora Vos Vous aues aués moy empresone enpresoné Allas þyn loue wele me sle Cū Cum mora Cest est ma volunte volunté Þat I myȝte be wt with þe Ludendo Vostre amor amour en moū moun qoer Brennyth hote as doþ þe fyr Cressendo Douce, bele, plesaūt plesaunt chere In al þis lond ne is þyn pere Juuenta Chaūchant Chaunchant ou la cler note Þow art in mȳ mynt herte rote Retenta Tost serroy joyos joyous seyn Ȝif þu woldist me ofteyn Amare Et tost serroy joyos joyous & et le lé Þere nys no þyng þt þat shal me Grauare Ma tresbele & et tresame tresamé , Ȝif þu wist I lete be Langorem De cestis portes portés entendement And in ȝore ȝoure herte takyþ entent Honorem A vos vous jeo suy tut done doné Myn herte is ful of loue to þe Presento Et pur ceo jeo vos vous pry Swetyng for þyn curteysy Memento Jeo vos vous pry pr pur charite charité Þe wordys þt þat here wretyn be Tenete And turne þȳ þyn herte me toward O a Dieu, q̅ que vos vous gard Valete
Responcio A soun treschere & et special Fer & and ner & and overal In mundo Que soy ou saltȝ salutȝ

While the manuscript reading saltȝ ‘leaps (for joy)’ makes sense, I have elected to transcribe sal[u]tȝ as this works more convincingly with regards to metre.

 & gré

I follow Spitzer’s proposal here for interpreting this line: “The delicate OF mechanism: en without article, ou = en with article, was not understood by [the scribe]… we find claunchant ou la clere note ‘sounding in the (its) clear tone’ : DA line 46] where ou is followed by a feminine article and can only be interpreted as the simple equivalent of the preposition en . We shall be justified then in understanding our line que soy ou saltz et gré = que soit en salut et gré” (Spitzer, p.154).

With mouth, word & and herte fre Jocundo Jeo vos vous> sanz vos vous> pry sanz debat Þt Þat ȝe wolde of myn stat Audire Sertefyes a vos vo jeo fay I wil in tyme whan I may Venyre Quant Quaunt a vos vous venu serray I ȝow swere be þis day Pro crto certo Mes jeo fuyss’en maladye Ȝif ȝe me loue sikyrle Convrto Converto L’ amor amour de vos vous moy fayt dolent But ȝe me love I am schent

Schent is an unusual (and potentially archaic?) spelling of the adjectival form of the MidE shenden ‘to harm, mislead, shame, bring death to’. It is very reminiscent of the OE scendan, WS scyndan, and LOE (eleventh century) scent, all meaning ‘to harm’. Shenden (v.), sense 1, 2, and 3, MED Online (accessed 15 June 2018)

Dolendo Sy suyre estoy de vostre amor amour I were as lyȝt as þe flor flour Florendo De moy jeo pry aues pyte pyté I falle so doþ þe lef on þe tre Tristando Tot le moū mounde , longe & et lé

i.e. ‘far and wide’. Lé = lié, with Anglo-Norman reduction of /ie/ (Short, p.71-3).

, I wolde leue & and take þe Ȝelando Pur vostre amor amour , allas, allas, I am werse þā> þan I was P̅r P̱̅er multa Jeo suy dolorouse in tut manere, Wolde God in ȝore ȝoure armys I were Sepulta Jeo a vos vous pleyne greuousement Þt Þat þyn loue haþ me schent Amando De moy, jeo pri, auez pete peté Turnyth ȝore ȝoure herte & and louyth me Letando A cestys ay maūde maunde de vous ore What bote ist to schent more Amore Remaūde maunde vre vostre volunté Ȝif I shal trewely troste þe Dulcore Vos Vou estes ma mort & et ma vye I preye ȝow for ȝore ȝoure curteysye Amate Cesteȝ maūdes maunde , jeo vos vou pry, In ȝore ȝoure herte stedefastly Notate